1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a connector in which the provisionally retained state of a terminal-retaining front holder to be inserted into a connector housing can be removed simply by use of a jig rod.
The present application is based on Japanese Patent Application No. Hei. 9-292891, which is incorporated herein by reference.
2. Description of the Related Art
FIG. 10 is an exploded perspective view of a conventional connector with a holder, and FIG. 11 is a sectional view taken along the line XI--XI shown in FIG. 10. The conventional connector 70 comprises a connector housing 71 made of synthetic resin, and a front holder 72 which is made of synthetic resin and can be inserted into the connector housing 71 from the front thereof.
The connector housing 71 includes an internally located male housing part 73 and an externally located hood part 74. In the interior portion of the male housing part 73, there are formed a plurality of terminal receiving chambers 75 (see FIG. 11). Within each of the terminal receiving chambers 75, there is disposed a flexible terminal retaining lance 76 and, on the side walls of each of the terminal receiving chambers 75, there are formed two engaging stepped portions 78 and 79 which are spaced from each other in the front holder insertion direction and respectively correspond to the front holder 72; in particular, the engaging stepped portion 78 is used for provisional retaining of the front holder, whereas the engaging stepped portion 79 is used for primary retaining of the front holder.
The front holder 72 is structured such that it can be inserted into the interior portion of the male housing part 73 and includes, in its centrally located vertical base plate portion 80, a provisionally retaining projection 81 and a primarily retaining projection 82 which respectively correspond to the above-mentioned engaging stepped portions 78 and 79. Also, the front holder 72 further includes, on the lateral side of the base plate portion 80, a horizontally-extending projecting plate 83 which corresponds to the terminal retaining lance 76. The projecting plate 83 is used to prevent, for example, the terminal retaining lance 76 from being flexed to thereby prevent a terminal from being removed backwardly from the terminal retaining lance 76 (in the present structure, the projecting plate 83 has a function to remove the terminal retaining lance 76). Reference numeral 84 designates an insertion guide portion.
Also, in the hood part 74, there is provided a flexible lock arm 85 which corresponds to a mating side female connector (not shown).
In the above-mentioned conventional structure, however, in order to prevent the removal of the front holder 72 while it is provisionally retained, a retaining state holding force provided by the provisionally retaining projection 81 and provisionally engaging stepped portion 78 must be set high to a certain degree: in particular, for example, when there arises the need for replacement of the front holder 72 and/or the connector housing 71 because of damage, if the retaining state holding force is high, the front holder 72 cannot be removed from the connector housing 71 easily, which results in the damaged or deformed provisionally retaining projection 81 and provisionally engaging stepped portion 78. This problem similarly arises in the primarily retained state as well. Also, in recent years, in recycling production, when the connector housing 71 and front holder 72 are different in material, since disassembling operation for the connector 70 is a troublesome work, it may be difficult to recycle.